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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
July, 1889
Vol. XLIII. No. 7
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL.
FINANCIAL
CONGREGATIONALISM IN GEORGIA
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
INDUSTRY AND SKILL OF THE NEGRO
PARAGRAPHS
CASTE IN THE CHURCHES
THE SOUTH.
MOUNTAIN WORK IN TENNESSEE
WILLIAMSBURG ACADEMY, KY.
MARSHALLVILLE, GA.
ALBANY, GA.
WILMINGTON, N.C.
SENIOR CLASS AT LE MOYNE INSTITUTE
ITEMS
THE INDIANS.
TRIP AMONG THE OUT-STATIONS
THE CHINESE.
THE CHINESE WORK, REV. DR. DANA
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
MEETING OF STATE ORGANIZATIONS
MERIDIAN, MISS.
MACON, GA.
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
WORK AMONG THE CHILDREN
RECEIPTS
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter.
* * * * *
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENT, REV. WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D., LLD., N.Y.
_Vice-Presidents._
Rev. A.J.F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.
Rev. F.A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.
Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass.
Rev. D.O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.
Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., Mo.
_Corresponding Secretaries._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
Rev. A.F. BEARD, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Recording Secretary._
Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Treasurer._
H.W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._
_Auditors._
PETER McCARTEE.
CHAS. P. PEIRCE.
_Executive Committee._
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.
ADDISON P. FOSTER, Secretary.
_For Three Years._
J.E. RANKIN,
EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN,
WM. H. WARD,
J.W. COOPER,
JOHN H. WASHBURN.
_For Two Years._
LYMAN ABBOTT,
CHAS. A. HULL,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER.
_For One Year._
S.B. HALLIDAY,
SAMUEL HOLMES,
SAMUEL S. MARPLES,
CHARLES L. MEAD,
ELBERT B. MONROE.
_District Secretaries._
Rev. C.J. RYDER, _21 Cong'l House, Boston._
Rev. J.E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago._
Rev. C.W. HIATT, _Cleveland, Ohio._
_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._
Rev. CHAS. W. SHELTON.
_Field Superintendents._
Rev. FRANK E. JENKINS.
Prof. EDWARD S. HALL.
_Secretary of Woman's Bureau._
Miss D.E. EMERSON, _56 Reade St., N.Y._
* * * * *
COMMUNICATIONS
Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the
Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the
Treasurer.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post office orders, may be
sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment
of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.--The date on the "address label," indicates the
time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on
label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made
afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please
send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former
address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and
occasional papers may be correctly mailed.
FORM OF A BEQUEST
"I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of ---- dollars, in
trust, to pay the same in ---- days after my decease to the person who,
when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American
Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the
direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its
charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three
witnesses.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
VOL. XLIII. JULY, 1889. No. 7.
The American Missionary Association
* * * * *
FINANCIAL.
_The Figures Improving._
The receipts of the Association for the eight months to May 31, 1889,
are: from donations, $134,993.37; from estates, $26,530.09; income,
$6,479.21; tuition, $26,084.21; U.S. Gov't, $9,540.87, total,
$203,627.75. Expenditures for the eight months, $229,422.82. Debtor
balance, $25,795.07.
The debtor balance reported in the last MISSIONARY for the seven months
ending April 30th, was $28,328.14. The showing, therefore, is favorable,
and we appeal to our friends to make their contributions so generous
that at the end of the fiscal year we may report entire freedom from
debt.
* * * * *
CONGREGATIONALISM IN GEORGIA.
At the recent meeting of the American Home Missionary Society, held in
Saratoga (June 6th), the question of the future relations of the newly
formed Congregational Conference of Georgia to that Society, and to the
earlier Congregational Association of that State, was fully discussed,
and resulted in the following action:
In the full conviction that these churches are in accord with the
principles of Congregationalism, and with the principles of this
Society, and with those held by the Congregational churches which
it represents:
_Resolved._ That we heartily welcome them to fellowship with us
in the Gospel. We commend them to the fraternal sympathy and
prayers of all our people, and we request the officers of the
society to extend to them such financial aid as they may need as
promptly as the state of its treasury will allow.
_Resolved._ That this Society rejoices to learn that an effort is
making to unite the Georgia Congregational Conference and the
Georgia Congregational Association on principles of equal
recognition and fellowship of all the churches of each body, and
trust that such a union will be accomplished.
We are in full and hearty agreement with the general spirit of these
utterances. In the hope that the churches of the Georgia Conference are
in accord with the principles of Congregationalism, which do not
discriminate against men because of caste or color, we are prepared to
welcome them heartily. That Conference has already published its
Articles of Faith and of Church Government, and these have assured us of
its adherence to the general principles of the Congregational faith and
order. The only question still open is as to the readiness of that body
to unite with the Congregational churches already existing in that State
in the practical recognition of the broad Christian and Congregational
principles in the fellowship of all churches irrespective of caste
distinctions.
The second resolution quoted above rejoices in the effort now making to
unite the two Congregational bodies in Georgia on that basis. We trust
that effort may be successful, for we believe that such a union is
essential to recognition by the National Council and to the cordial
fellowship of the Congregational churches. The Georgia Association, ever
since its organization in 1878, has been recognized and represented in
every subsequent meeting of the National Council, and we cannot see how
the Council can consistently welcome another organization, covering the
same State, that is kept separate from the older body by the line of
race or color; nor do we believe that the Congregational churches of
this country will fellowship both organizations thus held apart. We are
confirmed in the correctness of this impression from the decided and
independent utterances of the influential religious papers which so
largely represent the sentiments of the Congregational churches of this
country.
We present below some extracts from such of these papers published since
the Saratoga meeting as have come to hand before the MISSIONARY goes to
press, while in another portion of our pages we give more at length the
prior utterances of these journals on the same general subject. We deem
the question to be so important that we wish to lay it fully before our
readers.
_From The Independent._
We have nothing but satisfaction to express with this action. It would
be absurd to imagine that Congregationalists could forget their spotless
record, and could now, for the pride of the addition of fifty or a
hundred churches, consent to help a movement that should put colored
brothers in a separate fellowship by themselves. This they will never
do. They will hold out a warm hand of welcome to all comers, and warmest
to those who come to them from the South, white and black: but they want
them to come together, not apart.
_From The Congregationalist._
This, we are confident, was the proper attitude for the Society to
assume. No one wanted to grieve or irritate the Southern brethren, by
clauses in the resolutions, which might seem uncalled for, or at all
distrustful of their explicit utterances. At the same time it should be
distinctly understood that the unanimous action taken means that the
Congregational churches stand exactly where the Presbyterians do, in not
abating one hair of their principles, and in forever demanding that
color shall prove no barrier to Christian fellowship in its truest,
deepest intent. This journal has taken this position repeatedly, and it
re-asserts it. Sooner or later, but as surely as the sun-rise, it will
prevail, because it is right, and our grandchildren, if not our
children, will wonder that any of our generation ever hesitated about
it.
_From The Advance._
Then, the question as to the color-line in the churches, as known to
exist in the South, could not be ignored. Our Congregational churches
and their two great Home Missionary Societies, the American Home
Missionary Society and the American Missionary Association, hold to
certain principles respecting the universal brotherhood of believers in
Christ, and for which they stand before the world as witnesses,
historically, conspicuously, always and everywhere. Do these newly
constituted Congregational churches in the South stand with us on this
point? To ask this question implies not the slightest suspicion or
distrust. Not to have asked it would have been to betray a great
responsibility.
For one thing, the Home Missionary Society could not afford to even seem
to be indifferent to a matter of this kind. And if there is to be this
close fellowship and co-operation and mutual assistance, there should
obviously be, from the beginning, the most perfect frankness. The best
way to insure permanence of happy mutual relations is to begin right.
* * * * *
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.
The State officials of Georgia are disposed, perhaps it might be said
they desire, to renew the gift of eight thousand dollars to the Atlanta
University, insisting, however, upon compliance with the color-line
requisition. To this, the University cannot yield. The controversy on
that subject was not of its seeking. The children of the professors had
for years attended the classes, and the State Examiners had known this
all the time and had made no objections. The demand for the exclusion of
these pupils from the classes was suddenly made by an outside pressure,
and was not provoked in any way by word or deed of the teachers. To
surrender now is simply to yield a principle for money.
Some of the officials of the State express the wish that a compromise
may be effected, but others of their number--the large majority, we
believe--regard this as impossible, and hence both parties--the State
and the University--must pursue their independent lines of action. Under
these circumstances, the Trustees of the University have deemed it wise
to resume relations of co-operation with the American Missionary
Association. This question was fully discussed at the recent meeting of
the Board of Trustees, May 29th, two of the members, Drs. Beard and
Strieby, being present and presenting, in behalf of the Executive
Committee of the Association, some overtures for co-operation. One of
these was accepted, and is now the basis of the relations existing
between the Association and the University. It stipulates that the
Trustees of the University shall elect six of the sixteen members of the
Board, on the nomination of the Executive Committee of the Association,
as vacancies may exist, and that the Association shall (after the
present fiscal year) contribute $3,000 per annum towards defraying the
current expenses of the University.
Four vacancies were found to exist in the Board, and, in accordance with
the vote, they were filled by the unanimous choice of Rev. Drs. Twichell
of Hartford, Llewellyn Pratt of Norwich, Cooper of New Britain, and
Brand of Oberlin. These honored brethren, friends alike of the
Association and of the University, will, if they accept, add to the
efficiency of the school and to the confidence of the public in it. We
believe there is a bright future before the University. It will pursue
its work quietly, having no controversy with the State, and will
continue its noble efforts for the education of the colored race, thus
benefiting both the State of Georgia and the Nation.
* * * * *
INDUSTRY AND SKILL OF THE NEGRO.
In replacing the burned portion of our building at Le Moyne Institute,
Memphis, Tenn., the work was done by colored men. The Principal of the
Institute says that, "though the job was far from simple, not a single
error or mistake has occurred from beginning to end to mar our
satisfaction at its successful completion."
The architect who drew the plan expressed considerable anxiety lest a
colored mechanic with all colored assistants should not prove equal to
so large and important an undertaking. The result shows how unfounded
were his forebodings.
The job is done, and well done, and with so much expedition that in
sixty days after the fire they were moving into the reconstructed and
improved building. Every one who has had any hand in the work has seemed
personally interested and anxious to expedite the work, from the
architect and lumber dealer to the commonest laborer.
* * * * *
Superintendent Hall writes:
Testimony as to the working power and will of the Negro is to be had on
all sides whenever a person speaks honestly.
A professional gentleman in Andersonville operates five large
plantations without any white overseer except himself, and is making
money from the land. He states his principle to be: "I make a short,
clear contract with the Negroes and do _exactly_ what I promise, and I
require the same execution of their side of the bargain. _And I pay them
just what I agree to pay them._ They work six days every week. I give
them a chance to attend a funeral or church service if they keep up the
work."
A prominent contractor, builder and brick-maker in Thomasville, Ga.,
employs from one hundred to three hundred Negroes constantly in all
branches of his business. He says: "They are a patient, reliable class
of workers. If a man will be fair with them and do as he agrees, he will
never have trouble. They are not cranky as some white workmen. They do
the finest part of mason's and carpenter's work well."
These two men are native Southerners, whose parents were large slave
owners.
Fault is found with the Negro on the coast line, wherever the turpentine
business exists, because he will not work on the plantations. The
turpentine work with its "boxing," "scraping," "gathering" and
"distilling," is all piece-work, paid in cash. The Negroes are among the
trees before daylight and work till dark. By so doing they earn 75c.,
$1.00 or $1.25 per day. The plantations pay "rations"--a peck of common
meal and four pounds of bacon per week, and 35c. to 50c. per day, the
latter mostly in promises.
A lady in New Orleans who keeps a popular boarding house for tourists
said, when Straight University was mentioned, "Just as soon as a colored
girl goes to school she is good for nothing afterward. She won't work.
I've lost several bright, likely girls that way." Inquiry shows that the
lady pays five dollars per month and requires the help to sleep at home.
A constant demand is made on our Normal Department for teachers for from
twenty to forty dollars per month. Strange that educated colored young
men and women will not "work!"
* * * * *
PARAGRAPHS.
Dr. Roy, in his lantern lectures, sometimes meets with pleasant
incidents. Recently, at East Saginaw, before the General Association of
Michigan, coming to Fisk University on his programme, he had brought on
his canvas pictures of the Jubilee Singers, Jubilee and Livingstone
Halls and of Jowett, one of the students, and when he came to present
Mr. Ousley and his wife, a venerable man jumped up and remarked, "We
received Mr. Ousley and his wife at the Zulu Mission on their way to
East Central Africa. So also Miss Jones. Within two weeks I have
received from Mr. Ousley his photograph." This man was Rev. Dr. Rood,
for forty years a missionary among the Zulus, just now back to this
country. After the lecture, Mr. Rood told Dr. Roy that Mr. Ousley was
one of the most level-headed men in the mission, and so had been made
the treasurer of the mission--a good tribute to one of Fisk's graduates.
* * * * *
Our readers will remember an account in our last month's magazine of a
communion service held by Rev. T.L. Riggs at one of the out-stations
where he was obliged to use the back of a hymnbook covered with a napkin
for a plate, and a tin cup for a baptismal bowl. It gives us pleasure to
say that Mr. Riggs has received from Mrs. Farnam of New Haven, a
beautiful and complete traveling communion service closely packed in a
small morocco case, with the needful linen, which also goes in the case.
One piece fits into another in such a way that the whole service takes
up scarcely more room than is required for the largest piece. Mrs.
Farnam also sent suitable bags for the different pieces, so that Mr.
Riggs, when he goes on horse-back can carry them in his saddle pouches.
This is certainly the right gift in the right place.
* * * * *
The _New York Sun_ says: The merchants of Chinatown have heard of the
Johnstown disaster and have contributed their share to the relief of the
survivors. Tom Lee explained the matter to them, and at a mass meeting
at the Chinese municipal hall on Tuesday a subscription was opened. Here
is a list of some of the subscribers: Tuck High, $15; Tom Lee, $50; Sang
Chong, $15; Sinn Quong On, $15; Kwong Hing Lung, $15; Kwong Chin Cheong,
$15; Yuet Sing, $10; Yuen Kee, $10; Wo Kee, $15; Ju Young Keau, $2; Wong
Chin Foo, $3; Wing Wah Chong, $15; Jow Shing Pong, $3; Ham Lum Chin, $3;
Mai Li Wa, $2; Kwong Yin Lung, $15; Quong Lung Yuen, $15 and Ung Wah,
$10.
* * * * *
The _New York Tribune_ says: It appears from a report made to the
Presbyterian Assembly that the mountain districts of North Carolina,
Southwest Virginia, Southern and Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee
contain a population of about 2,000,000 white people, largely of Scotch
Irish descent, of whom 70 per cent, can neither read nor write. This
statement suggests the reflection that if there is one thing which is
more essential than the education of the Southern Negroes it is the
education of the Southern whites.
* * * * *
The Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association will be held
in Chicago, Ill., commencing October 29. Rev. R.R. Meredith, D.D., of
Brooklyn, N.Y., will preach the sermon.
* * * * *
We would still call attention to our Leaflets for distribution in the
pews on the taking of collections for our Association. We shall be happy
to furnish them to those making application.
* * * * *
The _New York Tribune_ says: "The Rev. Joseph Jordan, who was ordained
in Philadelphia on Sunday, is the first colored man to enter the
ministry of the Universalist Church. He is to engage in mission work in
the South."
* * * * *
CASTE IN THE CHURCHES.
OPINIONS OF THE RELIGIOUS PRESS.
_From The Congregationalist._
If report be true, the South Carolina Episcopalians have compromised
their difficulty in the matter of color in a manner which is not likely
to be permanently satisfactory. A portion of the diocesan convention had
seceded because the bishop declared that he could not exclude a
regularly ordained minister who was black. The canon law now has been
amended so as to exclude henceforth all other black men, and the
seceders have returned, consenting to make the best of the one obnoxious
colored man, but indignant because he has not been ejected. Whether the
General Convention will endorse or repudiate this compromise remains to
be seen. In either case the Episcopal branch of the church might as well
abandon its efforts to make headway among the colored race in that
State. So far as we can see, the bishop has made a manly stand, however,
and deserves commendation and sympathy. But the seceders have shown a
sad lack of the true spirit of Christ.
_From The Advance._
There have been in Georgia for ten or more years a number of
Congregational churches and a State Congregational Association. This
included, along with the pastors of colored churches, the President and
some of the Professors in Atlanta University. Last year, when that
interesting body of churches hitherto known as Congregational
Methodists, saw fit to take measures for becoming in name as well as in
fact Congregationalists, a "Georgia Congregational Conference" was
formed, a committee was also appointed to confer with the previously
existing Congregational Association, with a view to the right adjustment
of relations between the members of the two organizations. We publish
on another page the reply recently addressed by the "Association" to the
"Conference," with a view to unity on terms that would be in themselves
Christian and agreeable to both the parties interested, as well as
acceptable to Congregationalists everywhere. All of our churches have an
interest in a matter of such significance, as they would also be
sensitive to the reproach of there being two distinct Congregational
Associations in the same State, separated from each other on the
un-Christian caste line of race and color. With the temper and spirit
manifest in the communication referred to, it would seem that the way is
now open for a happy consummation of Congregational fellowship in the
State of Georgia, on terms which not only Congregationalists but
Christians of every name at the North will warmly approve and applaud.
_From The Independent._
The members of the Presbyterian General Assembly can go home from New
York assured that they have vindicated truth and righteousness. The one
vital, vicious fault in the report of the Conference Committee of the
Northern and Southern Presbyterian Churches on Co-operation was amended
out of it and as it now stands adopted it gives not even by implication
any support to the unchristian doctrine of separate presbyteries and
synods for black and half-white Presbyterians.
When the General Assembly met a year ago the Church had been somewhat
stirred up, though the leaders and editors generally seemed so anxious
for a proud reunion that they were ready to forget the wrong proposed to
the colored brothers. Indeed, a volunteer commission of editors and
managers had gone all through the South visiting the synods of the
Northern Church where the Negroes were in the majority, persuading them
that it would be better for them to go by themselves and get their share
of the honors. Not willing to be an obstacle, the Negroes had very
generally yielded to the persuasions of their kind visitors.
But there were a number of earnest men who were not willing to yield the
principle, and who would make a fight. It was the Centennial year, and
the two Assemblies were meeting at the same time and in neighboring
cities, ready to consummate the union if desired. But the previous
discussion had stirred up the Southerners also, and they had discovered
that the temper of the North was not all that had been represented. They
were not at all sure that the color-line could be peacefully drawn. They
had decided, therefore, not to unite. The report of the Committee of
Conference was accordingly withdrawn, and the matter referred to another
committee, which praised the fidelity of the Committee, declared it
premature to act on their report, and approved "the general principles
enumerated in the replies of the Committee," and recommended that the
committee of thirteen be enlarged by the addition of five more men, and
continued to devise methods of co-operation with the Southern Church. In
fear of acrimonious discussion this was railroaded through in two
minutes.
Well, the General Assembly has met again and the action taken by an
overwhelming majority of the Assembly fills us with gratitude to God.
The ticklish part of the report on co-operation was that, of course, on
colored evangelization. Here the report first stated what had been the
policy of the Southern Church for a separate Negro denomination, and
then gave that of the Northern Church:
"The Northern Assembly, on the other hand, has pronounced itself as not
in favor of setting off its colored members into a separate, independent
organization; _while by conceding the existing situation, it approves
the policy of separate churches, presbyteries and synods, subject to the
choice of the colored people themselves_."
Only one of the seventeen, Elder S.M. Breckinridge, of St. Louis, signed
a minority report.
It was fully expected that this report, so overwhelmingly recommended,
would go through with a rush. The managers had so planned. The
ex-Moderators, Smith, Crosby and Thompson, were in its favor. Dr. Crosby
said he would as soon be in the Southern Church as in the Northern. All
the prestige of good fellowship was in favor of the report as it was
presented, and the Southern Assembly had adopted it by a large majority
the day before.
The Rev. John Fox, of Allegheny, Penn., opened the opposition, opposing
the report generally, and supporting Elder Breckinridge's minority
report. It was a useful speech, and, though the sentiment of the
Assembly was plainly opposed, it stemmed the tide awhile and prepared
the way for what was to follow. Ex-Moderator Smith, of Baltimore,
Chairman of the Northern Assembly's Committee, then defended his report
and showed how much the Southern Assembly had yielded in accepting it.
Then came the event of the day. The Rev. M. Woolsey Stryker, of Chicago,
a young man of thirty-five, whom our readers will remember as one of our
correspondents, arose and denounced that portion of the report which in
the paragraph given above we have put in italics, and moved its
omission. He denied that the Church ever had "approved the policy of
separate churches, presbyteries and synods," and he declared such a
policy to be utterly unchristian. It instantly appeared that he had the
sympathy of the Assembly, if not of its leaders. Dr. Niccolls, of St.
Louis, supported him vigorously, but briefly, for speakers had been shut
down to five minute speeches. Dr. McCulloch, of Alton Presbytery, Ill.,
defended the report and asked, "Do you mean to tell me that if the
colored people themselves prefer separate churches, presbyteries and
synods, you would deny them the right to have them?" "Yes, by all
means," shouted Mr. Stryker, whose clear head and bold answer was
rewarded with loud approval. Dr. Crosby said he understood that the
Negroes had last year indicated their desire for separation; but Mr.
Sanders, the colored editor of _The Africo-American Presbyterian_, of
North Carolina, arose, and said they had many of them consented to it
last year rather than seem to stand in the way of re-union, but that
this year there was no reason for such a sacrifice, that they did not
wish it, and that while the presbytery of which he was a member had no
white ministers in it, they would be glad to welcome them if they would
come. After other addresses, the motion of Mr. Stryker for the excision
of the paragraph favoring separation of the races was put and carried by
an overwhelming majority, not less than three to one, and the report,
with this amendment, adopted.
It was a glorious victory, due to the conscience of the rank and file of
the Assembly, a victory of the Christian heart of fellowship with the
humblest over the pride and ambition of greatness and power. The
Assembly has done its duty by its colored members, and every colored
member's face was radiant with delight. We have never doubted that if
the subject once came fairly up for discussion, the Conference Committee
would learn something they did not know before about their denomination.
Encouraged by the indorsement given by the Presbyterian Assembly to the
position we have maintained against the separation of Christians in the
Church of Christ, we shall not neglect the same conflict going on among
the Congregationalists and Episcopalians.
_From the Christian Union._
The question whether the Church of Christ shall recognize the color line
is coming up to vex in turn each one of the great Protestant
denominations in the North. We say Protestant denominations advisedly;
for we do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church would for a moment
entertain the notion of excluding a man either from its sacraments, its
worshiping assemblies, or its priesthood, on the ground of color, or
would recognize in its worshiping assemblies any distinction except the
broad one between clergy and laity. To do so would be to violate all its
traditions and history.
In the Protestant denominations of the North, the question is
complicated by two considerations: a strong anti-caste prejudice in the
Northern constituency, on which the missionary organizations are
dependent for their support, and a strong ecclesiastical ambition and
spiritual desire, commingled in various proportions, to push on the work
of church extension in the South, where it cannot, apparently, be pushed
forward with early success, if caste is ignored and colored Christians
are admitted to white churches, and colored clergymen to white
ecclesiastical assemblies, on equal terms with their white brethren. In
the Diocesan Episcopal Convention of South Carolina it is, therefore,
proposed to amend the diocesan constitution so as to provide for two
Conventions, a white and a colored. In the Presbyterian Church the
difference of opinion on this subject constitutes one bar to a union
between the Northern and Southern churches, or even to co-operation
between them. This has been for the time removed by a sort of concordat
by which the relations of the colored and the white members in the two
churches respectively are allowed to remain _in statu quo_, and the
settlement of the problem is relegated to the future. In the
Congregational denomination, the question is likely to come up before
the meeting of the American Home Missionary Society at Saratoga early in
June, and again before the National Council at Worcester in October. In
the State of Georgia, there has been for some time an Association of
Congregational churches mainly composed of colored people, and largely
under the fostering care of the American Missionary Association. A
Congregational work has latterly been started among the whites under the
fostering care of the American Home Missionary Society. And recently a
body of independent Methodists, really Congregational in the principles
of their government, and having a considerable number of churches in
Georgia, and some in other Southern States, has become also
Congregational in name. Both bodies will have representatives,
presumably, at Saratoga, certainly at the meeting of the National
Council at Worcester in October, and the latter body, if not the former,
will have to determine whether it will recognize two Congregational
Associations in one State, the sole difference between them being that
one Association is composed wholly of white people, and the other
chiefly of colored people; unless, indeed--and of this there is some
hope--the Congregational Associations of Georgia solve the problem by
coming together and forming one body. There have been some
correspondence and conferences to consider the possibility of such a
union.
We find ourselves on this subject occupying a position midway between
the radicals on the one side and the conservatives on the other. In some
parts of the South, the whites and Negroes must for many years to come
be educated in separate schools and worship in separate churches. They
need, to some extent, a different education; they desire, to a large
extent, a different kind of religious worship and instruction. The
preaching which appeals to the Anglo-Saxon race appears cold and
unmeaning to the warm-blooded Negro; the preaching which arouses in him
a real religious fervor appears to his cold-blooded neighbor
imaginative, passionate, unintelligent. To attempt to force the two
races into a fellowship distasteful to both, to attempt to require the
two to listen to the same type of sermon and join in the same forms of
worship, is a "reform against nature." Even if the erection and
maintenance of two churches where one would suffice for the worshipers
of both classes involves some additional expense, the expense may not be
greater than the resultant spiritual advantage.
But to close the doors of any church on any Christian is in so far to
make it an unchristian church. To go into the South to establish white
churches from which, whether by a formal law or by an unwritten but
self-enforcing edict, men are excluded because God made them black, is
to deny one of the fundamental tenets of Christ: All ye are brethren. It
is to introduce into a church already divided by sectarian strifes a new
division. It is to rend afresh the seamless robe. To say to any man
asking for Christian fellowship on the simple ground of faith in Christ,
"Stand back: for I am whiter than thou," is simply a new and
indefensible form of Pharisaism. The church exists to proclaim certain
truths, among which the brotherhood of man stands pre-eminent. It is
difficult to see with what consistency a Christian minister can preach
on the parable of the Good Samaritan if his church refuses to recognize
a Christian brother in one of another race because he belongs to another
race. There is no reason for an attempt to corral all men of all races
in one inclosure; but for any church, especially for a church of the
Puritans, to enter upon missionary work in the South, and initiate it by
refusing to admit to its fellowship a black man because he is black, is
to apostatize from the faith in order to get a chance to preach the
faith. To assert equality and brotherhood at the polls, to reaffirm it
in a public school system, to reassert it by courts of law in the hotel
and the railroad train, and then deny it in the church, would be indeed
a singular incongruity, and would make the Nation more Christian than
the church.
The principle, then, by which the color-line question is to be settled
is very simple, though its application may in some cases present some
difficulties. The whites and Negroes are not to be coerced or bribed
into uniting in one and the same church organizations. If they prefer to
worship and to work separately, they must be allowed so to do. This is
within their Christian liberty. But it is not within their Christian
liberty to refuse the fullest and most perfect Christian fellowship to
each other. The doors of every Christian church must stand wide open to
men of every race and color. The only reason of exclusion must be in
moral or spiritual character. And in the higher representative bodies
these churches must be one. To organize, for example, in the State of
Georgia two Congregational bodies, one white and the other colored,
would be to organize a church to perpetuate divisions which the church
should aim to obliterate. It were far better that the Northern Church
should not go with its missionary work into the South at all, than that
it should go with a mission which strengthens the infidelity that denies
that God made of one blood all the nations of the earth for to dwell
together.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
* * * * *
MOUNTAIN WORK IN TENNESSEE.
BY DISTRICT SECRETARY C.W. HIATT.
I have found the man of iron. In one short day, he travelled one hundred
miles by rail, walked twelve miles over a steep and rocky mountain, rode
fourteen miles horseback through a pouring and drenching rain, and at
nightfall preached an earnest, telling sermon to an audience of railroad
employees, besides performing the duties of organist and janitor. The
next morning he was up at four o'clock and away for other tasks of
similar sort. One who watches Brother Pope, must do it on the run. One
of the fairest spots on the Cumberland Plateau is Grand View. Here the
American Missionary Association holds a strategic position. The wild,
magnificent scenery and the cool, bracing air, tingling with ozone, make
it an ideal spot for a great religious and educational centre. Already
eyes are turning upward from the surrounding valleys to this mountain
school. The first words I heard on landing at Spring City, six miles
away, were in its praise: "They've got a mighty good school up thar."
Such is the fact. What is needed now to balance things is a "mighty good
school" _building_. If the insignificant frame structures which are
hidden among the trees, and only half supply the needs of the
institution, could be exchanged for a good, roomy, handsome edifice,
placed on the summit of the mountain, where it would be visible for
miles along the line of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, besides being
a benefaction to the cause, it would be the best, cheapest and most
attractive advertisement of our mountain work, conceivable. It is to be
hoped that someone will visit this beautiful spot ere long whose
enthusiasm will not all run to words.
Within easy reach of Grand View are various churches flanked by their
educational departments, which will one day become tributary to the
great central institution. At one of these points, Deer Lodge, a fine
church building is just nearing completion. The community is all loyal
to the American Missionary Association, whose help it has received and
appreciated. A good many Northerners are coming into this section,
induced by climate, whose co-operation in his work Mr. Pope is very
prompt in securing.
Glen Mary is a mining settlement hidden in the oak forest about a mile
from the above mentioned railroad. Here, Mr. Pope recently found a small
Sunday-school battling against great odds. Intemperance and profanity
were rife, and the demand for gospel labor was very urgent. Meetings
were held with blessed results, so that shortly ago a church was
organized, now one of the strongest in this region. One consecrated
young man is at the bottom of the whole movement. Two years ago, he
started a Sunday-school with no assistance. At first, he met his pupils
in the colored people's meeting house, but was obliged to change after a
time, because of the prejudices of color which started among the blacks!
He then took an axe and cleared a spot in the woods to which he invited
his school. Here Mr. Pope found him. After the interest began to grow, a
subscription was started among the miners, resulting in money sufficient
(including help from the mining company) to erect a comfortable little
church edifice. This building has recently been enlarged by one-third,
to accommodate the crowds. The membership of the church is less than
forty, and yet it has raised one collection for the American Missionary
Association amounting to _twenty-four dollars_!
These people have no pastor. They are dependent on the scattering
ministrations of two or three of our overworked missionaries from other
points, who have undertaken to supply them by turns. There are one
hundred and fifty families in the community, fifty being colored,
_without pastoral training_. I am assured that it would not be hard to
raise money enough in the community to nearly, if not quite, support a
minister. The people are hungering and thirsting for teaching in
spiritual things. After repeated and urgent invitations your pilgrim was
prevailed upon to suspend his trip for a day or two, that he might tell
these people of the "good news" of Jesus Christ. It was evidently of the
Lord, for last night at the first exhortation, eight persons, two men
and six women, gave themselves to the Master. The entire congregation
seemed to hear the word with gladness. It is a great field. And so it is
in many places, I am told. Glen Mary is anxious for a resident minister
and a Christian teacher. The influence of an educated, godly woman is
sorely needed in these homes. The gospel has already done much for the
place, but there is still a great work to do. Thank God for such
tireless, self-forgetful men as Mr. Pope. With the brain of a general
and the zeal of an apostle, he is planting the cross of Christ so firmly
on this plateau, and in such commanding positions, that it cannot be
dislodged, but will shed its saving influence far and wide forever.
After preaching once more I hope to move on to Nashville in time for the
commencement.
* * * * *
WILLIAMSBURG ACADEMY, WHITLEY CO., KY.
BY MISS EDITH WILLIAMS.
In this land where the people live by their crops, it was most
encouraging to see the number of older boys who remained in school till
the last of the term. Two of our boys remain with us during vacation, to
do the needed work. They are earnest Christians and faithful workers,
and appreciate the home influences here.
Many of the girls tell me that their fathers used to be "moonshiners,"
and they say that at that time they thought it all right; did not
realize the evils of alcohol until taught about it in the school. We
believe, however, that the morals of this part of Kentucky are steadily
improving, and feel confident of it in our own little town.
Last week I visited a country school house about four miles from town.
It was made of logs. Three small holes were cut in the logs for windows.
The benches were split logs, and the floor was the earth. The great
stone chimney, (the only spacious thing about the building,) was
beginning to crumble away. This is a typical log school house of the
past, but much better ones are going up all over the country, giving
brighter hopes for the future.
With the better school buildings through the country, our Academy will
be ready to furnish them with better teachers than they have had in the
past. Our hope for the future among the Mountain Whites is great.
* * * * *
SCHOOL AT MARSHALLVILLE, GA.
BY MRS. ANNA W. RICHARDSON.
Our school is very large, there being enrolled two hundred. Our great
trouble is a lack of teachers. There are only three of us.
New facts regarding the people among whom we work are brought to us
constantly. Yesterday four pupils entered school who were perfect
wonders. The oldest of them is seventeen years of age, and the youngest
perhaps ten. The oldest has been to church three times during her life,
the others have never been. They have never been to Sabbath-school, and
know nothing about Christ and God. They have never in their lives heard
the word Bible. The _oldest_ one has seen a preacher three times--the
same man each time. They made their first visit to town, and beheld the
first railroad car yesterday. They do not know who made them! Ever since
their arrival I have been saying over and over, "Surely we have Africa
at our very door." I cannot realize it. The responsibility is so great
that it makes me tremble.
Many of our pupils have little or no religious training at home. We have
a good many pupils whose parents are "_Hard Shell_ Baptists," and do not
allow them to go to Sabbath-school, and teach them not to pray for
forgiveness of sins. A few afternoons ago, the pupils were all asked
what they desired to be. One little boy raised his hand to say that he
was going to be a "Hard Shell" minister, for they were already saved,
and had no praying to do. This answer was a result of his training at
home.
We have many features of encouragement connected with our work here.
Especially are we pleased with the work that is being done by a class of
our advanced boys and girls. There are ten of them out in the wooded
country, teaching for three months those who cannot find their way to
our school. Every two weeks, these pupils come in to give a report of
their work. It is understood by them that it is a part of their duty to
tell us just what work they do and _how_ they do it. We supply them with
reading matter for their pupils--especially are we careful to let them
have Sunday-school books, etc. These pupils will be out of school three
months, and will then return to their school work. Every one who is out
is a Christian, and we feel that their influence for good is very great.
It is a joy to us to feel that our little school here in this town is
spreading its influence out into darker portions of the State. Each one
of these pupils has no less than forty pupils in his school, so that the
work of the school here at Marshallville reaches over six hundred souls!
This is indeed a dark portion of the field, but God's loving care is
about us, and we are content to labor here.
* * * * *
ALBANY, GA.
BY MR. W.C. GREENE.
Our school is overrun with pupils this school year. I was compelled to
turn away a large number because I didn't have room for them.
The people on their part are manifesting a deep interest in education
They are trying to take advantage of the opportunity as it is given
them. Many are going hungry to get a chance to send their children to
school.
This last week has been one of profit in this part of the State. The
people have been made to see their duty to the colored man more plainly
by the lectures delivered by Dr. Lansay and others in the Georgia
Chautauqua. There were some fine speeches made in behalf of the Negro.
Judge Hook was down one day and visited our school, and said that he was
surprised and glad to see the rapid progress we had made here.
* * * * *
GREGORY INSTITUTE, WILMINGTON, N.C.
A densely packed church of white and colored people witnessed the
closing exercises of the Gregory Institute, a school of high grade for
colored people founded and supported by the American Missionary
Association, and aided by Mr. Gregory. This school has been in operation
some eighteen or twenty years, and has done a most excellent work among
the people it was designed to benefit. The writer of this article has
attended public exercises of the Institute three times, and has been
each time impressed with the dignified and self-respecting deportment of
the scholars and visitors.
The neat programme called for graduating essays from six girls--there
were no boys in the class--and there were six songs rendered by the
whole school, or by the class, and every one present agreed with Dr.
Pritchard when in his address he declared that such was the musical and
literary excellence of the occasion that it would have done credit to
any institution of learning in North Carolina.
The address of Dr. Pritchard was humorous, practical and highly
complimentary to the school, and was received with much favor by the
audience. After the conferring of the diplomas by Mr. Woodard, the
pleasant occasion came to an end. The Institute is an honor to the city,
and certainly reflects great credit on the officers who conduct
it.--_Morning Star._
* * * * *
SENIOR CLASS AT LE MOYNE NORMAL INSTITUTE.
MEMPHIS, TENN.
The Senior class of the present year is the largest graduated from the
school, numbering eleven members, seven young ladies and four young men.
Tennessee is the native State of all but one, who was born in Virginia.
The youngest is seventeen years old, the oldest twenty-eight; average
age, twenty and one-half years.
The tallest member of the class is five feet, eight and one-half inches
in height, the shortest in stature measures five feet; average height,
five feet, six inches.
The heaviest weight turns the scale at one hundred and sixty-five
pounds, and the lightest at one hundred and twenty; average weight, one
hundred and thirty-seven pounds.
The longest attendance at this school is ten years and the shortest,
four; average term in school, six and one-half years.
* * * * *
ITEMS.
We have received No. 1, Vol. 1, of the _Academy Student_, published and
printed by the students of the Williamsburg Academy, Williamsburg, Ky.
The little paper is large with promise. It is as bright as a new dollar.
* * * * *